The teaching experience and the post-primary education system in Ireland is both positively growing but also facing several concrete challenges. There is an overall satisfaction with the efforts, social respect, and salary dedicated to teachers and future educators. The educational system can be described as currently undergoing some updates and at a turning point of sorts making it both very competitive and high pressure for both teachers and students. It is quickly rising to the ranks of one of the best in the EU.
However, there are evident shortcomings, such as structural issues with both issues in leadership as well as difficulties for teachers to find a full-time position. Other typical issues such as the need for additional resources, an improved curriculum, and greater support for disadvantaged groups and students should be addressed in the future.
John West-Burnham offers a model of transformational leadership which seeks to create democratic, creative, and moral leadership. His stance is that the schools and educational system is ill-matched to the communities it is meant to serve. Rather than utilizing incremental improvements as often occurs, it is necessary to overhaul the concept of leadership in education. To meet the challenges of the 21st century, leaders must utilize shared and democratic leadership among stakeholders, be aware of moral philosophies, and be open to new educational innovations such as personalized learning and information technologies (West-Burnham 2-3).
Reflective thinking also known as deep thinking, encourages the leader and and followers to learn from experiences through the process of reflection. By analyzing individual contributions to the organization, success and sustainability can be achieved.
Reflective leadership practices are key to maintaining operations of educational organizations in achieving both short- and long-term objectives. An effective reflective leader can enable employees to contribute to the development and maintenance of successful operations (Eroszlu 801). Reflective leaders possess high levels of self-awareness as well as awareness of their followers, which helps in management of the educational organization and decision-making to create efficient solutions to any problems
Works Cited
Ersozlu, Alpay. “School Principals’ Reflective Leadership Skills through the Eyes of Science and Mathematics Teachers.” International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, vol. 11, no. 5, 2017, pp. 801-808. Web.
West-Burnham, John. Rethinking Educational Leadership: From Improvement to Transformation. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2009.